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Sunday, July 12, 2015

How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell

Anyone who’s ever been “put on the spot” will be able to
identify with Billy, a 10-year old whose plans to buy a motorbike are suddenly
put on hold. When his friends Alan and
Joe dare him to eat a worm, Billy puts his entire savings on the line in an
epic bet! The challenge is for him to
eat fifteen worms in fifteen days, with a whole fifty dollars riding on the
result. The story gets even crazier as
the deadline approaches, with Billy’s family helping to come up with appetizing
recipes…for earthworms!

I loved the way Mr. Rockwell’s writing shows the building tension
as Billy’s deadline approaches. Yes,
there’s an awful lot of money on the line in this bet, but what’s really at
stake is Billy’s pride. If he backed out
of the gross challenge then his friends probably wouldn’t have the same level
of respect for him. And you know, that’s
one really interesting thing about male relationships that Mr. Rockwell
completely nailed in this book: although
boys can often disagree with each other, sometimes even to the point of having
shouting matches or fistfights, they still have the ability to remain friends! Even if you’re completely grossed out by the
thought of eating earthworms, this book is worth reading in order to study the curious
ways that boys interact with their friends.

We didn’t have the Internet when I was growing up, so back
then there was no way for me to check if eating worms posed any kind of health
risk. I took a few minutes to do some
research just now, and I learned that worms are, in fact, edible! You’d want to avoid eating them raw, though,
and you’d definitely have to clean the dirt off of them first. Still, I’d advise against eating fresh worms unless
you found yourself stranded on a desert island and starving! In some countries like Thailand, however, you’d
be able to find different varieties of worms prepared and served as appetizers.

What do you think about eating unusual foods like worms or
insects? Do you find the idea gross, or
do you think that you might actually like to try them someday? Do you enjoy trying new foods, or do you
prefer to stick to your favorites?